Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Rep. Diana Wasserman Schultz (D-Fl.) Wednesday decried the treatment of women’s issues in the ongoing health care reform debate.
“There’s just a total lack of understanding of what the lives are lack for women coupled with a very distorted view of what’s happening in the real world with health care,” Stabenow said during a conference call with reporters. “You put it all together and it’s extreme and backwards.”
Wasserman Schultz noted that the current health care model essentially discriminates against women.
“A recent study showed that 25 year old women are charged up to 45 percent more than 25 year old men for the same coverage,” Schultz explained. “Many women that actually do have insurance have plans that don’t cover basic women’s health services.”
Schultz and Stabenow related two key gubernatorial races to the topic at hand, stating that both Virginia candidate Bob McDonnell and New Jersey candidate Chris Christie hold troubling views when it comes to women’s health policies.
“If Chris Christie becomes governor of New Jersey, he would take women back to the dark ages,” Wasserman Schultz said. “If his views prevailed nationally, God forbid, women would lost the right to choose.”
Sen. Stabenow And Rep. Wasserman Schultz Decry Treatment Of Women’s Issues In Health Care Debate
House Democrats Urge Pelosi To Reject Tax On ‘Cadillac’ Plans
Rep. Joe Coutrney (D-Conn.) Friday expanded upon a letter proposed by Courtney and 107 fellow Congressmen asking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to reject a tax on “cadillac”, or high-priced, health insurance plans.
“This approach…would result in unacceptable burden on middle class families existing health insurance,” said Courtney during a conference call with reporters.
“The purpose of this letter is to put up a big red flag for the White House and the Congressional leadership that this is going to be a real problem trying to incorporate it into a final package.”
The tax was initially proposed in the Senate Finance Committee as a means to secure funding for the costs that will arise from reform efforts.
The Republican National Committee released a briefing last Wednesday stating “the new tax is intended to target ‘Cadillac’ plans offered to wealthy individuals. It would fall on plans valued at $8,000 or more for individuals, and at $21,000 or more for families.”
McConnell Declines Comment On Ensign Scandal
By Laura Smith, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Friday declined the opportunity to comment on the scandal facing GOP Senators John Ensign (R-Nev.) and Tom Coburn (R-Ok).
“I don’t have any observations to make about the Ensign matter today,” McConnell said.
The Minority Leader’s refusal comes after the revelation that Ensign had a relationship with the wife of a former aide. Coburn has also been accused of advising Ensign to give the aide money in order to relocate to Colorado.
McConnell also touched upon the America’s Healthy Future Act, the markup of which concluded early Thursday morning.
“What we know for sure about this proposal, the core of it, is that it will include half a trillion dollars in Medicare cuts over 10 years and hundreds of billions of dollars in tax increases on both individuals and businesses,” he said.
McConnell said these are the issues the American people were responding to during the townhall protests in August.
Reid Repeats Call For Health Reform, Says GOP Has No Plan
By Marianna Levyash – Talk Radio News Service
At a Senate Leadership conference Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that something has to be done about reforming the nation’s healthcare system.
“What we are trying to do is preserve a good healthcare option,” said Reid, who generally favors having a public option be an element of reform.
Reid stated that members of the GOP have not presented any type of reform plan to the American public.
“Republicans don’t have a plan…they want to keep things the way they are,” he said.
Afghanistan And Pakistan Stability Linked, Say Experts
By Meagan Wiseley – University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News Service
In a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday, expert witnesses agreed that the U.S. should neither abandon Afghanistan or substantially increase U.S. military forces in Afghanistan in regard to a stable Pakistan.
Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S. said, “a precipitous withdrawal would repeat the strategic mistake of the 1990s when the U.S. abandoned Afghanistan to the chaos that nurtured al-Qaida. Nor should the West risk being trapped in a Vietnam style quagmire, a war without end and with no guarantee of success.”
Steve Coll, President of the New America Foundation proposed a strategy that falls between withdrawal and militarization.
“It would make clear that the Taliban will never be permitted to take power by force in Kabul or major cities. It would seek and enforce stability in Afghan population centers, emphasize politics over combat, urban stability over rural patrolling, Afghan solutions over Western ones and it would incorporate Pakistan more directly into creative and persistent diplomatic efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and the region”, said Coll.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Ranking Member Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) introduced the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act, which Congress passed earlier this year, that will triple non-military assistance to Pakistan to $1.5 billion a year for the next five years.
Committee Chairman Kerry noted that “[U.S.] actions in Afghanistan will influence events in Pakistan and we must take that into account. But the ultimate choices about the country’s future will be made by the Pakistanis themselves.”
Pelosi: Republicans Hold A Double Standard On Rhetoric
By Leah Valencia, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) commented on the harsh rhetoric used by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) on the House floor earlier this week, accusing Republicans of holding a double standard.
“Apparently Republicans are holding Democrats to a higher level than they are holding their own members,” Pelosi said in regard to GOP calls for Grayson to retract his comments.
Grayson came under fire for remarking “If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly. That’s right. The Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick,” while on the House floor Tuesday.
Pelosi went on to say that an apology from Grayson was not necessary but stated that incendiary rhetoric should not be used by either party.
“If anybody’s going to apologize, everybody should apologize,” Pelosi said.
Grayson said Democratic leaders have not asked him to apologize because he did not violate any House rules.
Pelosi said she did not plan to let Republican use this to distract from moving on healthcare legislation.
“The points have been made,” she said. “Now it’s time for us to keep the focus on health care.”
Kucinich Welcomes “Mad As Hell” Doctors To Capitol Hill
By Marianna Levyash-Talk Radio News Service
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) greeted that “Mad as Hell Doctors,” a group of medical professionals who crossed the country campaigning for health care reform, on Capitol Hill Thursday morning.
“What you’ve done is to create a path right inside the Capitol so that you can make Washington aware of your presence,” Kucinich told the doctors.
Kucinich promised to make sure the “personal commitment [the doctors] made finds an expression…in the House of Representatives.”
Congressional Democrats Call For Improved Health Care For Rural Americans
John DuBois, University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), Reps. Tom Perriello (D-Va.) and Steve Kagen (D-Wisc.) came out Thursday to support a report released by the Center for Community Change and the Center for Rural Affairs on rural communities’ attitudes toward health care reform.
“Health care currently is for the privileged and that’s not how it should be,” Clyburn said.
According to the report, entitled “Sweet The Bitter Drought: Why America Needs Health Care Reform,” 82 percent of rural counties are classified as medically under-served areas. Medicaid and Medicare account for 60 percent of rural hospital revenues. In 2006, twenty-five percent of family farmers with health insurance reported debt from medical expenses. The likelihood that rural Americans are under-insured are seventy percent higher than for urban Americans.
“Medical debt leaves women and rural americans afraid because doctors won’t give them check-ups without insurance, even if it is a dire situation,” said Cindy Shawcross of the People Escaping Poverty Project.
Boehner: Public Option As Unpopular As A Garlic Milkshake
Justin Duckham-Talk Radio News Service
Republicans have attacked the public option with phrases like “death panels” and “government takeover,” but House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) invoked a new term Thursday: “garlic milkshake.”
“I’m still trying to find the first American to talk to who is in favor of the public option,” Boehner said during a press conference. “This is about as unpopular as a garlic milkshake.”
“I haven’t tried it,” Boehner added.
The Minority Leader criticized a number of other items ranked high on Congressional Democrats’ agenda, including cap-and-trade legislation, which Boehner claimed would be a key contributors to job loss.
Boehner also touched upon the recent proposal from Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) to remove Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) from his chairmanship position with the House Ways and Means Committee.
“It’s improper for Chairman Rangel to remain in his position with all of the influence that he has while the serious allegations remain hanging,” Boehner said. “Given the severity of these charges, Democrat leaders should ask Chairman Rangel to step aside.”
The Ohio Republican took issue with President Barack Obama’s decision to travel to Copenhagen to rally support for bringing the Olympics to Chicago as well.
“While the President is in Copenhagen tomorrow, the American people are going to wake up and find out that hundreds and thousands of more Americans have lost their jobs,” said Boehner.
The Minority Leader reiterated his desire to have General Stanley McChrystal, who commands U.S. forces in Afghanistan, testify before Congress.
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House Democrats Urge Pelosi To Reject Proposed Excise Tax
By Meagan Wiseley – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) presented a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi today urging her to reject any excise tax on high-cost benefit health care plans. The letter comes in response to the Senate Finance Committee’s proposal for a 40 percent tax on “cadillac plans,” or plans that feature expensive premiums.
“The proposed tax on benefits undermines a basic principle of the reform proposals – to build on the employer-based heath care system,” said Courtney.
Courtney said he hopes the letter will send a clear signal to House leadership that an excise tax on heath plans will be an “additional and substantial tax burden” on working class families and middle class individuals.
Beyond the “cadillac” plans, Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) said that he believes this tax will impact a larger number of individuals around the country who have higher coverage plans because they live in “high-cost regions” or have “high-risk jobs.”
Rather than an excise tax, Stark suggested a surcharge in the House health reform bill which would raise taxes on those making $500,000 a year or more. “Over 99 percent of earners would not be affected by the surcharge,” said Stark.
In addition to Reps. Courtney and Stark, 156 other members of the House Democratic Caucus have cosigned the letter.